The R-37 provided valuable intel on the Rouen, Plauen and Sauren raids and was even loaned out to RAF Bomber Command for Operation Hamburger & Fries (missions to Hamburg and Friesland). However, its greatest test would prove to be the Schweinfurter mission at the end of August. Taking off at dawn, the R-37 headed for deepest Nazi Germany.
The target was the Schweinfurter frankfurter factory which fed 88% of the German military. Success meant a Nazi enemy worn down by hunger from missing lunch. The stakes couldn't be higher.
The R-37 returned on two engines with three badly wounded crew and shot full of holes by heavy flak and Luftwaffe fighters, but it delivered the goods. The miles and miles of bomber streams that flew the next day guided by the R-37's photos utterly flattened the Schweinfurter Frankfurter factory. There would be no hot dogs for the Krauts.
Unfortunately, the R-37 was too badly damaged to fly again and its vital mission has been lost to history. However, many German veterans still grumble about "the war without weenies" to this day. While almost forgotten, the R-37 fuselage design would be resurrected in the B-47.
Brian da Basher